Reflections on a life focused on purpose

COMMENT Retirement is an ugly word. Or is it? I love the inspiration that comes from history, from etymology. What does the dictionary say? Retirement: from the 1530s, of armies, “to retreat, draw back”, also, of persons, “to withdraw” to some place, especially for the sake of privacy; from French retirer “to withdraw (something)”, from re- “back” (see re-) + Old French tirer “to draw” (see tirade). Related: Retired; retiring. I am drawing back from the front line so as to better direct the battle – to inspire greater purpose in the property industry. To teach: use social cohesion, social and economic growth and authenticity as the purpose, and heritage, art and an immediate start as your special sauces. Retirement conjures up so many images of energetic uselessness. But on 1 February that’s officially what I’m doing. Don’t worry, I won’t be slipping on a pair of plaid golf trousers anytime soon. I have too much energy for that – and more skin in the game than ever. There’s a lot of freedom in being unemployed. And I am probably unemployable anyway. The power of purpose I am teaching the next cohort of real estate undergrads how they can use the power of purpose to make more by doing good. Whether that’s making more money or more joy is up to them, but the formula is simple: purpose + passion = power to generate profit for all. Sure, the detailed mathematics is more complicated, but to get the message across we need to keep it simple. I was asked in my role as a commissioner for Historic England who the very best, most forward-thinking developers in the market are – in relation to the chance to deliver a residential village around the Shrewsbury Flaxmill, a cracking opportunity. The mill has already been beautifully restored by Historic England, which stepped in to perform this statutory obligation as the developer of last resort. “Who is the next ‘Cathedral’?”, I was asked. I struggled to answer this. I dropped Chris Brown, a founder of Igloo, a note. Through our conversation, he and I settled on Stories, GS8, Town and Human Nature. Perhaps Capital & Centric. Maybe Urban Splash. Not a long list for a nation of 67m people. By the next “Cathedral” I mean a passionate developer of beautiful mixed-use places whose inspiration starts with making those places full of inclusive social and economic hope, leaving a locally distinctive place of beauty. A caring societal partner. Place revolution Local authorities are going bust, and every town and city needs a sustainable evolution – or  a place revolution. Something for all, not just a few loafer-wearing, self-centred real estate professionals. There are so many huge opportunities for brilliant purposeful, mixed-use developers to step up. Cathedral Group became U+I, which became LandsecU+I. Under Mike Hood’s leadership, this business is – and you can quote me on this – going to deliver the most exceptional regeneration this country needs. The most incredible places and the most sustained period of market outperformance within the property sector. I’m happy to make a wager with anyone on this. The thing is, you don’t need a lot of money to make great places for people, so it bores me to hear people making excuses. You need purpose and passion. It upsets me when ambitions aren’t strategised alongside social value experts. Or when artists and architects aren’t briefed to generate joy. When Cathedral merged with Development Securities in 2014, to create U+ I, we had £10m of gross assets to our name. With that little balance sheet we won projects in Brighton, Bromley, Greenwich and Sittingbourne in quick succession – around £650m of GDV. From that merger, we gained a business with gross assets of around £450m. From the U+I balance sheet of £450m we then went on to win some £12bn GDV of amazing projects. In both instances our incredible growth was because we had little competition. Repairing people and the planet Unlike too many in the industry, we were bothered about thoughtful, mixed-use regeneration, much of it heritage-led. These are the kind of values that local authorities are screaming for. We are talking about serious repairs to people and the planet here. I can almost hear the response – “but we’re providing affordable homes”, “but we’re proving innovation and growth”, or “we’re delivering great risk-adjusted returns and addressing a market need”. To me, these are excuses for turning a blind eye to purpose. LandsecU+I has the balance sheet to create cradle-to-grave regeneration, hosting the early-phase development to investment maturity and recycling capital in emerging “Gen Z” product – these are the assets that are going to clean up. Mix that with societal purpose and shareholders in such businesses will clean up too. Landsec chief executive Mark Allan was questioned for paying a 73% premium when purchasing U+I. It was a value purchase for Landsec, and great value it was too. The innovation and creativity now embedded in the LandsecU+I culture will turbocharge the portfolio of regeneration projects, as well as those that come in the future. The maturing assets are in high-growth and aspiring locations; the purpose will add gold dust to a new kind of ethical investment. There are 317 local authorities in England screaming out for brilliant partners to save themselves, their cities, their towns and their villages. Are you bothered? You should be. On reflection, my greatest disappointment is that we could have, should have done more, sooner. More to improve towns and cities and the lives of many, many people for generations to come. Now it’s your turn. Richard Upton is the former boss of Cathedral and U+I Photo by David McHugh/Brighton Pictures